CALGARY — When Dominic Larocque isn’t representing his country on the ice, he’s the poster boy for Soldier On, a program linking injured Canadian soldiers to sport.

“He is on a couple of our posters,” said Soldier On senior officer Major Jay Feyko.

Five years after losing his lower left leg in an explosion in Afghanistan, and less than three years after taking up sledge hockey, Larocque is on a fast track to the 2014 Winter Paralympics.

Larocque is currently playing for the Canada in the World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Calgary.

What are his chances of becoming a Paralympian in Sochi, Russia in less than two years? Pretty good, if you ask national team coach Mike Mondin.

“It’s hard to predict who is going to be on our team at this point, but if we’re picking the team today, he’d be there,” Mondin said.

Larocque, a 25-year-old from Quebec City, would be the first Soldier On athlete to be a Winter Paralympian.

Sergeant Steve Daniel from Sudbury, Ont., was the first to compete in a Summer Paralympics. Paralyzed below the waist in a parachute training jump in 2005, Daniel was a para-rower in 2008 in Beijing.

On Nov. 27, 2007, Cpl. Larocque was hurt on duty in Afghanistan when the armoured vehicle he was riding in rolled over an improvised explosive device.

Soldier On has a partnership with the Canadian Paralympic Committee to link military personnel to sport after they are injured mentally or physically while serving their country.

They’re invited to three camps held annually in different parts of the country. The next one is in Whistler, B.C., in February, when they can try sledge hockey and the para versions of alpine and nordic skiing, biathlon and snowboarding.

If they want to pursue a sport, Soldier On draws on funds created through donations to buy them equipment.

“We set them up with the best expertise and connections within Canada to adapt to an active lifestyle again or adapt to their new lifestyle through sport and recreation,” Feyko explained.

“We have folks across the country to introduce people to adaptive and nonadaptive sport and hopefully something sticks.”

Sledge hockey did more than stick in Larocque’s case.

“When I was at the hospital after my accident, I was watching RDS on television and I watched the world sledge championship,” he said through an interpreter. “I found it pretty interesting and I wanted to try.

“Soldier On helped me a lot to get the equipment, which was adapted for my body. Usually this kind of equipment is really expensive, so they provided me with the equipment necessary.”

There is a news photo of Larocque and Feyko sitting next to Prime Minister Stephen Harper while they watch sledge hockey during the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver and Whistler.

“After the game, we went down and met some of the players from Team Canada and their eyes opened up wide when they saw this young, fit military guy that was into sledge,” Feyko explained.

“From there, he just took off. The next time we ran a sledge camp, he was on the team.”

Larocque’s transition to sledge hockey was accelerated by the fact he’d played hockey for nine years prior to the explosion. Some of that time with the Jr. A Valleyfield Braves.

“I love hockey and it’s the same sport, even if I’m on a sledge,” Larocque says. “I have the same passion for the sport.

He was already fit from military training, but balancing and turning on a sledge requires incredible core strength.

“My biggest challenge was to be in better shape and working on my endurance, how to stay on the ice longer,” he explains. “Being in the military ... I was in pretty good shape, but with sledge hockey, I was in even better shape.”

A primary goal of the Canadian Paralympic Committee is recruiting more people with disabilities into sport. Widening the athlete pool helps the country be competitive at the Paralympic Games.

Canada ended its combat mission in Afghanistan last year after almost a decade there.

Feyko estimates between six and 10 athletes from Soldier On have already reached a national-team level.

“Because Afghanistan is still pretty recent, and they have to grab the sport and excel at it,” he says.

“Dom and his accelerating to the national and international level is fantastic for Soldier On. People can look at that and say ‘look at what that guy is doing’ and get active and get out there.”